As any parent would, Spouse and I have been talking with the Offspring regarding their experience of the earthquake. Since many of our family members are physicians, I feel that I too am qualified to make not only medical but psychological evaluations in the midst of crisis situations therefore, I proceeded forward with the fervor and demeanor of a preeminent couch clinician. Spouse and I separated the still warring factions, isolated Offspring #1, and led in with what House taught us on his most recent visit to rehab.

“So, how are you feeling.” It’s difficult not to smirk when delivering such lines without the Saturday Night Live cameras rolling. It was again necessary to remind myself I was in full parenting mode. To which Offspring #1 relayed his version of experiencing an earthquake at school:

Offspring #1, 8th Grade, Male, 14, Only Interest Snowboarding

“Wow… Hi, so apparently I’m offspring 1 according to my mom. And as you know Japan just had a huge earthquake/ tsunami/ fire/ a million other things. I’m not sure I even know the severity of everything that is going on. I have just been watching some videos on YouTube and reading articles and stuff and it seems pretty crazy. But one thing that makes me know this is a big deal is the fact that the city is shut down, no taxis, buses, trains, subways nothing. I was planning on taking a day trip to gala- yuzawa a ski resort today using the shinkansen (bullet train). But obviously that’s not happening. Especially because gala- yuzawa is the prefecture next to the prefecture hit the hardest by the tsunami.

So, my mom wanted me to write and share what happened in my day today. It was no less than chaotic. Well, to start off I was in algebra class. We had just finished an easy quiz and now we were doing a few work sheets, pretty laid back. All the sudden my desk started moving a little bit. The two doors opened on their own. In the middle of a complicated problem I yelled at my friend to stop moving my desk. He told me it wasn’t him, and I realized I was experiencing my second ever earthquake I’ve ever felt! YAYYY! Everyone was laughing and it was quite exciting especially because now it was getting bigger and more fun. But then the mood started to change as we were told to go under out desks. I thought my teacher was joking at first, why would I go under my desk that is so stupid. I have never had to do anything like that before. Also, my algebra class is on the second floor of a somewhat temporary away from the main building of my school. Anyway now this thing is getting really big, the girls are all crying, the guys who were so excited are even getting a little scared, no one had ever experienced an earthquake like this. I was pulling out my phone to try to get some footage(terrible footage), and I could even see the outside staircase shaking so fast I really thought that thing was done. Then I noticed my always reliable teacher, perfectly calm he was getting some homework together. He then started to hand out the homework during the most intense earthquake in a very, very long time. After it stops, all the books on the shelves had fallen off, the room looked terrible. He then walked outside onto the field, when another one started. This one was different, it felt like the world was slowly turning upside down, it felt like I was extremely dizzy like I had never been before. We then waited about an hour on the field, couldn’t call our parents, no one knew what was going on outside of school, were there tsunamis? Had people died? Where are our parents? I hope my snowboard didn’t fall over and break! We waited for an hour in the field with these thoughts, all the girls annoyingly crying. Anyway, there was some very bad luck involved with me in this. Yes, I had the kyogen, an ancient Japanese play that my Japanese teacher talked me into doing. In this play I was taught, by a Japanese Living National Treasure (Endo Sensei). I play the part of a mushroom. I have to wear a traditional kimono and a weird hat, I regret it so much. I look pathetic. Anyway, I’ve been practicing for this thing for like 3 months every Wednesday, I actually missed a track practice for this thing. A bunch of Japanese schools and all these other people are coming to watch. Long story short, it got cancelled. I had to suffer through some more crying from girls when they found out, I was overjoyed with happiness.

Ok now… the dreaded bus ride. There is not much I can say about this. We left at 4 from our school, and got home at 11. Normally about a 45 minute bus ride, about 20 km home. Also the worst thing happened; my phone ran out of battery within an hour of the dreaded bus ride! What was I to do! Anyway, I thought they were joking when they said we’d be home late. So what Tokyo did was they shut down the highway, all public transportation, so people had to take their cars or walk. The kids at my school who take the train home, had to sleep at school. The road we took was completely covered in traffic, we had an average of about 10 minutes per .1 km. Yes, I’m serious. We had limited food, each kid got some gum, and a slice of ham. Lucky for me I had some serious cash in my wallet. I went into 7 11 for a “bathroom break” and got some sour cream and onion Pringles, and these other weird Japanese chips. I forgot to go to the bathroom. I had never been annoyed so much for food, but I didn’t give in, I didn’t even give food to my own sister (offspring 2). So, I basically stared out the window the entire time, it was no less than sucking. But I finally, got home, this water thing in the driveway of my apartment was trashed because of the earthquake. I got into my house to see two broken vases and my mom’s Japanese teacher. I didn’t care I immediately ran into my room, nothing broken! Went to the bathroom, then I went to sleep. Yesterday was nothing short of chaotic.

Offspring 1 J

P.S I wonder what that day would have been like if there were lower schoolers there, they had conferences so they all stayed home”

I just can’t resist making one comment- his math teacher sitting at the desk, during one of the largest earthquakes in history, putting together the homework.Unperturbed. Classic.

I’m Offspring 2, and this is the post my mom asked me to write about my experience in the 9.0 (that’s how bad it was where my school is) earthquake.

Around 2:50 pm, I was sitting in my Study Center class, where I had to work on keyboarding. I was just finishing up a seven minute typing lesson when I started to get really dizzy. I typed for a few more seconds, then realizing there was an earthquake, I paused my lesson. Everyone in my class was hesitant. Should we go under the desks? Or was that for earthquakes that were worse? No one was sure. Our teacher told everyone to get under the desks. I felt kind of stupid, hiding under my desk like a kindergartener playing Hide-and-go-seek. But I did as I was told, because this was probably the second earthquake I had ever felt, and I could see everything shaking dangerously hard around me. My friend called out to me from across the room,”Put your hands over your neck to protect it from glass!” She has lived here for six years, so I just automatically assumed she is going to have more earthquake experience then I have. Clasping my hands over the back of my neck, I looked around. Some kids looked absolutely petrified, some were crying, and some were giggling at the craziness of it all. I was confused. Weren’t earthquakes supposed to be much shorter than this? I was going to ask my friend, but she was on the verge of tears so I decided to keep my mouth shut. I wondered if I was going to die, and if it was going to hurt too badly. I hoped it wouldn’t. The ground wasn’t rumbling anymore, and nothing was shaking too badly. My class and I stood up warily, looking at our teacher for instructions. She quickly ran out of the room then came back, telling us all to evacuate the building, and go to the fields. As we went, no one seemed very worried. People were laughing and talking, and the teachers were NOT happy with that. They told us to be quiet, and quickly go to the fields (it wasn’t in a very nice way). When we got to the fields, some people went to their siblings looking for support, needing someone to tell them that it was going to be ok. Personally I didn’t see what the big deal was. Sure, it was an earthquake, but the building didn’t collapse, and no one got hurt at my school, so I was just a little bit wary about it all, and the aftershocks weren’t helping. Everyone had to move to the middle of the field, so that the poles surrounding the field wouldn’t fall and crush us. We sat their patiently for an hour, anxious to contact our parents and make sure themselves. Five and six people per group, advisories slowly walked into the school to grab their belongings, and go to the buses, parents, and gym to eventually go home. We had to wait on the buses for roughly 30 minutes before we left, and once we finally did, it was much worse. Inching forwards on back roads, which felt like an inch per hour, we slowly crawled towards Tokyo. There were only two stops we took: one for people who ABSOLUTELY had to stop right there to go to the bathroom, and another one for everyone else to get some food if they had money, and to quickly go to the bathroom. I saw Offspring 1 in the store, and I asked him if he could get me some food. As you might have already read, he decided it was best to just feed himself, instead of sharing with his younger innocent sibling. Instead, I got to share a couple packs of chips with 40 other kids, who were just as hungry as I was. This went on for 6 ½ hours, and we were sitting in a stuffed up bus, getting tired and cranky. My best friend is on my bus also, and she had her first Tokyo tap dance class at 7:00 that night. We left school at about 4:30, so I was sure that we would get home in time for her class. But unfortunately, we came a few hours too late. Instead of coming home a couple of hours before 7:00 like I had expected, we came home at 11:00, with empty stomachs and exhausted limbs. Finally at home, the only thing that I was thinking about was food and my stirring stomach, dreading the aftershocks that were on their way to Tokyo.

HMMM, Offspring #1 had money and didn’t share his food with OF#2? What are we raising? Apparently a CEO.

What now?

First came earthquake, next tsunami, now nuclear power plant meltdown.

Currently the Clampitts are watching the Nuclear reactor in Fukushima to see if we’ll be donning hazmat suits and walking to the American Embassy compound for evacuation. I want Howard Stern to play my part in the movie version which will include a dramatic helicopter rescue by Navy Seals. According to initial reports, citizens close to the reactor were advised to wear safety masks, shut off the air conditioner (that’s what they said) and cover exposed skin with wet towels which seemed somewhat feckless given the apparent power of the atomic reaction to melt through any organic material. However, our bags are packed and by the front door. I just hope I don’t grow a second nose in the process, as my first is already quite prominent and fully functional. Many ExPats have fled the area in a mad stampede, umbrellas fully extended to protect themselves from the deluge of toxin filled acid rain which is the next predicted plague to follow the trifecta to hit Japan. The “Evacuation Vacation.”

In the end, there are areas for improvement in my emergency management plan and given the dire warnings of aftershocks occurring until March 17 at a magnitude up to 7, I still have time to implement the following:

1) Restock the pantry with additional canned goods. I realized that although the Clampitts can survive for a week on Spam, red beans and tuna, we’ll emerge on the other side wagging scurvy tongues at each other. Better add some canned peaches.

2) At some point there was enough drinking water hoarded to support a whale shark in our bath tub. Although I clearly said,”DO NOT DRINK THIS WATER”- I was ignored. I’ll take my revenge methodically on each offender as the perfect opportunity presents itself, in the meantime, the next batch will have an alarm sensor coupled with electric fence wiring to keep the heavy drinking water abusers headed back to the tap.

3) During this ordeal, the only device that continuously functioned was the email on my cell phone. However, when it died, just exactly where was I to recharge this critical device with no electricity? At the evacuation point in the middle of Yoyogi park plugged in to a tree trunk? I bought solar chargers today for all the phones.

4) We had a crank operated radio with a plug-in to charge other appliances. It worked like a charm- my Japanese didn’t. This is for English-speaking emergencies and camping only.

5) I gained a new best friend during this ordeal. Twitter. I love you Twitter and I will never fling insults about Twitter users being self-absorbed narcissists again. Now I am one. Twitter feeds from the Japan Times, NHK, CNN, the journalists covering the scenes, the US Embassies here and abroad, put out messages real-time. I knew of the Nuclear Plant explosions within minutes of the occurrence versus 1-2 hours later when it was officially reported. Now I truly understand how Twitter and Facebook can mobilize a motivated nation.

6) Finally, dealing with the Offspring’s reactions. A- children mirror their parents and will first do what Spouse and I do. Poor kids. B- The older one is desperately trying to get back to normalcy. Eat at the same places, go snowboarding, resume life as he knows it. The younger one wants to get out. Leave. Be safe. Be free. Go on vacation. We have to keep talking. Well- sensibly.

7) Rumors. I’ve often wondered how people in crisis situations decide to leave. Libya, Eygpt, Germany… When does one have enough information to categorically declare, “This is no longer a safe place.” Rumors provide fodder for bad decision-making. Emails circulating on power outages that never occur,” the embassy is with holding information” etc. In the end, one must gather all the facts, weigh them, develop a plan, a back up plan, and be ready to go at a moment’s notice. Just in case.

God Bless all of you for your prayers, thoughts, affirmations, songs, and support. The people of Japan still need that. Thank you, thank you, peace to you. And unless I’m typing through gloved hands, the posts will “Business as Usual” starting on Tuesday….

69 Responses to The Offsprings’ Perspective.. Not Quite What I Imagined

I feel weird saying this under the current circumstances, but congrats on being Freshly Pressed. I also feel weird saying that I am a tiny bit jealous at your soaring number of blog hits. Okay, that is really inappropriate. But I said it anyway. Seriously though, congrats.

I’m laughing. Thanks- sensationalist journalism. Apparently it is very entertaining. Now back to business as usual. AND- I seem to recall a certain someone has also been FP for a very good post which I believe I commented on….

True- I never understood the whole blogging thing until I did this. Didn’t understand what they were, why one would do one, etc. Now I understand. Reading your blog, the other blogs I follow, is part of my daily ritual.

As a mother with her own Offspring 1 and 2, I really appreciated reading their perspectives and it was not quite was I expected either. It did get a chuckle out of me, even through all that chaos. Thanks for sharing your insights with the world here.

Thanks for the update. I enjoyed reading Offspring #1 and Offspring #2’s reactions. See they have your wit and writing skills. Have to say I’m with Offspring #2’s assessment of the situation.

Your observations about Twitter are interesting. I’ve also never been a huge fan, but remember hearing in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, that Twitter was used to great effect in communicating with people re: what to do and where to go. There too, the mobile networks were kept up and running through the early days. Yay for technology!

Chips off the old block!!!
Thanks for your additions Offspring! Nice Work!
Congrats on FP and an additional 10K readers!!!! Of course, 5K of those hits are from me, checking for updates and reading your comments.
I am ready for the evacuation vacation! Dr. B’Hein can’t understand why I still want to visit. I told him traveling with a gas mask and hasmat suit is better than a week with our offspring.
Be careful and keep us updated. Miss ya’ll and worried about ya’ll.

You and I will probably be the only two touring Japan in Hazmats. I can hear it now,
(In sign language) ” Hand me a chalkboard- I can’t talk through the plexi glass face mask”
“How are we going to eat?”
“OOPs I just went to the bathroom- where’s the out take valve?”

Excellent post! I enjoyed reading it, and it has a nice sense of humor about it all. Especially liked the bathtub water bit… I could see my children doing the same in a heartbeat. Its good to have a sense of humor amidst the chaos that must be reigning over in your neck of the woods.
That being said, we are praying for everyone in japan. It must be a difficult experience. Hoping everything calms down soon, and that things improve quickly. It must be a bit terrifying.

I enjoyed reading your children’s matter-of-fact stories. Thank you for them, Emily. It’s much more penetrating than watching the news. Hope everything will get back to normal for Japan and you personally as soon as possible.

For now Tokyo is running as normal. The coastlines and Northern Japan are a wasteland. It’s surreal to think that Tokyo suffered the same earthquake with so little damage vs the rest of Japan. We were so lucky.

Hej! So glad you are all right. You and your Offsprings are so brave I think :), even your kids are trying harder to hide thieir emotions than you. Say ‘hi’ to them. I understand that they are nervous and scared.

It is important to be prepared for ‘surprises’, so good you are supplied with food and helpful devices. This solar battery is a good idea. Any other ‘super-extra-hero’ stuff?

I’ve found your blog recently and I am happy to ‘chase’ your posts. Unfortunatelly, these circumstances are not pleasant but I hope everything will be just fine soon – at least this way you would not be afraid of ‘news’ coming from tv.

Truth is I ordered the back packs from a guy who survived the Kobe earthquakes- alone- for a month. I figured whatever he told me I needed, I needed. Maybe I should publish a list of what IS in that backpack? It’s so well packed I hate to disrupt it and not be able to fit it all back in…

Hey, I’m glad your kids made it home safe. I’m a 2006 graduate, so I was also keeping up to date online with the latest news that the school was posting. Hopefully not too much damage to the school. Thanks again for keeping us posted!

Doesn’t sound like there was any so far….. The school did an amazing job of evacuating the kids, GPS on the buses so everyone knew where the kids were at all times, email updates to the parents… Very nicely managed.

Interesting to hear the perspectives of Offspring #1 and #2. Can’t believe #1 didn’t share any food with his sister!!! Now THAT’S what I call keeping it real. I would have lied and said I did, for posterity’s sake. 😉

I love that you made your kids post. You sure are a humorous bunch! 🙂 I’m glad everything is okay, and that your family is safe and sound despite all of the chaos going on there right now. Thank you for keeping us updated as much as you can!

we’ve been really worried about you and your family (at least since liz texted me in the middle of the night and told me that you were living in japan)!!

keep us updated….love your blog.

i’m afraid that the one thing i will clearly remember, 30 years from now, about the historic earthquake in japan is that emily smith’s son did not have to be a shroom in front of the entire population of shibuya-ku….

Hey Dr. SilverMug- glad to see you- all ok- you wouldn’t believe the rumors and how they get around!!!!Sifting through to the truth is something. ExPats are panicked and flocking out of here on “Evacuation Vacations”

Beautiful post! I believe you have passed the gift of the written word on to your offspring. I don’t think I could write nearly half that well when I was in their age!

I totally agree with all the other things as well, especially the rumor mongering. I don’t think you have any stupid friends forwarding the worst of the chain emails, but even the gov. were warning us on TV to beware of wild rumors.

Well, life goes on. I am back at the office and acting as if nothing had happened. Our foreign offices and customers will get the same service they always get, even before we have issued a single press release.

Thanks so much for sharing this. Just wanted to compliment you on you (and your family’s) proactive (if sometimes cheeky ;0) attitude and for great guts. Also wanted to say I’ll be praying for you and all the people of Japan.

I can’t imagine; it must be pretty frightening… glad you are finding ways to keep laughing in spite of it all… that will help. Yeah, I would have expected your kids to be a little more frightened than they seem to have been! How long have you lived in Japan? I wonder because, my daughter is 13, and it seems like yours speak/write/use very different terminology than my girl and her buds.
Stay Safe!

So glad to hear all of your family are safe. Although I suggest Offspring #1 be kept from all rations! (LOL) – I had a brother like that as well!
It is wonderful to hear the truth of your situation and the humour that keeps you going.
Please know there are many who have never met you – yet care for your safety as you become ‘the face’ for all those who we know even less.
Sending prayers and blessings. May these keep you all strong through the next few days.

This was so great to read- and I love that you had the bathtub filled. Also love that you had water-sneakers. It figures, mine would do the same. I assume you have a hot water on demand water heater, but for those who do not that is another large source of water for emergencies. People forget they have 50 gallons of water there with a little spigot and everything. Great work getting the stuff you need right away, new radio, cell phone charger, etc. Yay!

Oh, you dear BRAVE souls! Those offspring of yours are wonderful writers, just like their mom. And I have to say that I think both got a whole lot of grit and bravery from their mom!! I was nearly weeping reading your blog about the quake! Real troopers all of you.

So you say things in Tokyo carry on and yet didn’t you say no electricity? Does that seem to be citywide.

Did you have to leap over any Japanese women shoppers to get your canned peaches?! Is there a rush on food stores in T too or just more up north. As you say, SO hard to separate fact from fiction in reports.

I keep wondering if Spouse’s dad will soon be meeting you at the airport?!
Oh, and speaking of that man, interesting to note the genes that get passed along….I recall vividly an incident when he was about #1’s age when candy was purchased and consumed without one bit going to deprived sisters….but then who remembers such trifles?! Sounds as if #2 has a much better attitude than I did! 🙂

Really enjoyed reading the kids perspectives- not a view you really hear about in the news and what not, so it was great reading how they felt etc. They seemed not too fazed at all and handled it really well!

So inspiring to know how you’re all dealing with this and getting on with things. I wish you all the best and of course prayers are with everyone who has been affected.

i’ve held a staunch resistance to twitter. it’s bad enough the world of privacy comes with filters, so having yet another “online connection” of 140 characters seemed pointless (look, i’m washing my hair!)

but with the ridiculous circus of news coverage, disseminating the somewhat right and the incredibly wrong has been troubling. posts and feeds, real time reporting from people (like you) on the ground and in the thick of everything from the rise of political islam, to questioning the real threats following an epic earthquake…. seriously considering creating my own (twitter account, not a revolution)

Wonderful idea to include the Earthquake from the kids perspectives. So thankful that ya’ll are OK. I imagine your nerves must be totally frayed with all the aftershocks and news of the nuclear problems. Your whole family and all the Japanese public will remain in our thoughts and prayers.

The devastation is in Northern Japan and the authorities are telling everyone to stay out. Lots of people want to go up and help but are being asked not to at this point unless with a relief org. Of course in Southern Japan, it looks like business as usual… So sad.

Congratulations on being FP 🙂 I read through a lot of your entries and I love your take on life… very humorous and encouraging! I’ve been blogging since last year but I’m no where close to being as easy to read as yours. Would love some advice so do drop by and share some constructive criticism 🙂

I’ve always admired and loved your blog but never more so than at the moment: your cool head, unfazed sense of humour and sensible attitude put the sensation-mongers to shame. A calm voice amongst some of the newspeople. Well done and good luck to you all.

You are also both clearly raising children in the same mold: good for you!

Holding you and the brave and graceful people of Japan in my thoughts and sending lots of positive waves to everyone. I doubt I could be as strong and brave as those I see on TV. My heart goes out to you all. XXXX

Hi Sweffling and thanks so much for your nice words! It’s hard to sift through all the chaos- especially when everyone around is panicking- but- I’m starting to learn that there is a “race” for the story and it can be corrected/amended later….

I found you on freshly pressed the other day. Great initial post about the earthquake but this one with the children writing is so moving though they probably didn’t realise that when they wrote. So funny about your boy not sharing his food! I think you’ve decided to leave for a bit? Good idea. There comes a time when if you don’t have to stay why would you but like many others we have Japan and it’s people in our minds.